This episode of the Faith and Finance Podcast is brought to you in part by Heart for Lebanon.
True financial freedom begins with putting God first, and generosity is one way we live that out. Our partner, Heart for Lebanon, serves vulnerable young women at risk of exploitation, early marriage, and violence, offering them safety, education, and the hope of the gospel. To give or learn more, text the word FAITH to 98656. That's FAITH to 98656.
Or visit faithfi.com slash lebanon. Give justice to the weak and the fatherless. Uphold the rights of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy. Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82, three and four.
Hi, I'm Rob West. As followers of Christ, we're called to stand up for the vulnerable and protect those who are oppressed. One of the most urgent needs today is among girls and young women in Lebanon. Maylee Melki joins us with a powerful story of hope and a way you can make a difference.
And then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well from time to time, we love highlighting the work of our trusted ministry partners. It's a chance to celebrate what God is doing around the world and to come alongside kingdom work that is truly making a difference.
You know, when we live out a biblical worldview of money management, a natural expression of that should be our generosity toward those things that are on the heart of God. And one partner we're especially honored to support is Heart for Lebanon. You've likely seen the headlines about the ongoing turmoil in Lebanon, but what's often overlooked is how deeply it's affecting young women and children.
This year, Heart for Lebanon is focused on rescuing these vulnerable individuals, many of whom face the very real threats of early marriage and trafficking and child labor and violence. Well, joining us now is Meili Melki, strategic engagement manager with Heart for Lebanon. And Meili, I'm so glad to have you on the program today. Thank you so much, Rob. It's truly an honor to be with you and your listeners here.
Well thank you. Meili, Heart for Lebanon has been committed to reaching at-risk young women from the very beginning. And Meili, having grown up in Lebanon yourself, you've seen the realities of this need up close, haven't you? Absolutely. You know, Rob, I love my country.
I love the community that just allowed me to grow up. However, 19 years ago, when Heart for Lebanon started, we knew right off the bat that this was going to be an incredible challenge that we were going to face. Just to paint a picture for our listeners, growing up, Lebanon is a culture of shame and honor like so many cultures in the Middle East that dictates a lot of what a young woman can and cannot do, putting them a lot at risk, especially if they are a refugee young girl, a Bedouin young girl, a Kurdish young girl, or woman who has endured so much turmoil already before she got to Lebanon with no strong male backing her. We're dealing with a culture where there's no biblical understanding of a woman's worth or of human dignity in general. When you have compounded crises, especially specifically in the country of Lebanon, whether that is the economy, so many wars. More recently, the war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, and the war that actually sprung us to start Heart for Lebanon in 2006, also between Hezbollah and Israel. You compound all of that with no legal backing for women, with no biblical understanding, and you're really in a destitute, you're in a dark place where there's so much despair and there are so many bad decisions that are being done for women at risk.
Young girls are forced into areas of child labor, forced early marriage, sexual exploitation, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. And this is where Heart for Lebanon comes in, to fill the gap, not just to stop those things and take the place of other institutions, but to bring the Gospel in. To say that your worth, your honor, is in God and God alone. That's so powerful and I think it goes without saying, but why then the special emphasis right now on young girls in Lebanon? That's a great question because we have been doing ministry, as I just mentioned, for 19 years, but only by the grace of God. We celebrate 20 years next year from something that started as a very small response to the war in 2006, now having over 85 staff members and 45,000 individuals in Lebanon that depend on us on a monthly basis, Rob. But it took 19 years for us to earn the trust of the communities that we serve because, as you well know, this is an extremely sensitive topic. This doesn't mean that we have not been serving and responding to the needs of young women since throughout all of this time holistically, but we really want to take a deeper dive into what they are facing today. And we want to intentionally address that holistically on every single level, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. It's incredible and we're so delighted to be able to shine a light on it today. We're going to talk about what that looks like as Heart for Lebanon is on the ground serving these at-risk women and how you can participate. Don't go anywhere. We're just getting started on faith and finance.
We'll be right back. We are grateful for support from Crossmark Global Investments. They are a faith-based firm with a goal of offering values-based investments to help align financial choices and faith, ensuring a portfolio that reflects what matters most. Crossmark does this through investment solutions that span the capital market spectrum from large cap to small cap strategies, including equity, fixed income, and balanced strategies. They are led by industry veteran Bob Doll, CFA, a regular guest on the faith and finance program.
More information is available at crossmarkglobal.com. Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Today, put your heart into something that makes an eternal impact. Heart for Lebanon is sharing the gospel and protecting girls from early marriage, child labor, and violence. Your gift of $114 helps reach three at-risk girls with hope and a brighter future.
Give generously. Text faith to 98656. That's faith to 98656 or visit faithfi.com forward slash Lebanon. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance.
I'm Rob West. With me today, my guest may Lee Melky. She's with heart for Lebanon. And you know, we love periodically to shine a light on incredible ministries that are doing kingdom work around the globe. And today is one of those opportunities. As we share our partnership with heart for Lebanon, you've seen the headlines about the turmoil in Lebanon, but today we're talking about specifically one aspect of heart for Lebanon's ministry and that's toward young women and children who are being exploited and trafficked and involved in violence and even early marriage.
And I'm delighted may lead to hear about the work that you're doing. You know, I've heard it said that heart for Lebanon is actually not in the rescue business when it comes to these young women, but rather the prevention business. Explain that for our listeners.
That's absolutely right, Rob. We are in the prevention business and I'm going to answer that question with a quick story. I was in Lebanon this August and I came across a elderly woman who was in one of our literacy programs and it just struck my attention. Why is she in our literacy program at that age now wanting to learn and to read and to write? It was specifically an English for beginners class as an adult and she was surrounded by all these younger folks.
After the class was over, I said, Ferial, I'm really interested. Why I know that you are involved in our church community and in our Bible studies. She does not come from a Christian background and she has a lot of children and grandchildren that are also involved with our ministry at heart for Lebanon. And she, she looked at me square in the eye and she said, heart for Lebanon showed me when it changed my life, introduced me to Jesus that I can break the cycle and prevent what happened to me, to my granddaughters. I was not able to do that with my children, but the Bible, although I come from a Muslim culture, the Bible and the Lord that saved me told me that my granddaughters have worth and to me, I want to do that through education.
I want to model to them what it means to be a good student. We are preventing Ferial's granddaughters and thousands of other at risk girls through tools like education, Christian counseling, physical needs, and a discipleship and safe church environments because we want to prevent them from ever having to make decisions like Ferial had to make. We want them to know Jesus before it's too late. We prevent the evil as opposed to rescuing them after the fact. And that's what holistic ministry is all about. Oh, that's so well said.
And that's why we're so delighted to be partnered with you. Now I love stories Meili and I understand you actually have another story that really shares what prevention looks like and why it's so important. So set this next story up for us. Rob, Aleema, she's 10 years old. She has benefited for a few years from one of heart for Lebanon's hope educational programs, a carefully curated curriculum of non formal education that allows her to weave in biblical character traits in your everyday English, science, math, Arabic, any other material that she learns. However, Aleema was faced with a big decision besides what she was exposed to at heart for Lebanon. She had to make a decision with her mom being exposed to child labor and violence. Girls that are that young, Aleema's age in Lebanon are often subjected to arranged marriages for financial reasons.
But sometimes, Rob, there is a happy ending. Well, there is and I'm so delighted for our listeners to be able to hear Aleema's story. Let's do that right now. Aleema is a fourth grade student in heart for Lebanon's hope educational program who performs well in the classroom and is excited about her newfound faith in Jesus. But because of the desperate situation in Lebanon and the misguided values of her culture, Aleema's mother has been pressuring her to make some drastic decisions. That school has taught you about Jesus. And now it's time for me to teach you about our religion and our Islamic values.
It's time for us to find you a suitable marriage partner. Can you imagine this? A 10 year old girl being told she has to drop out of school and think about getting married. Well, thankfully, Aleema didn't accept what her mother was teaching her and she was certain that what she had learned at the Hope Center was the truth. Although it was hard, Aleema was able to stand firm in her faith.
She urged her mother to let her continue her education and not get married. She pleaded with her to trust that God would provide for their needs. By God's grace and many conversations with her mother, Aleema's example of strong faith in Jesus has resulted in her mother trusting him for salvation as well. We believe this is a great example of what happens when a young girl's value and dignity is restored. Your investment today will help us reach at-risk girls like Aleema, introducing them to Jesus and helping to prevent early marriage, child labor and exploitation.
Thanks for being as generous as you can as you give now. What a powerful story. Mei-Li, I'd love for you to share a bit more with our listeners about what this looks like on the ground, because as these girls are coming through and young women are coming through the Hope Ministry Center there that Heart for Lebanon has in this part of the world, what is it about the curriculum and sharing the love of Christ that actually helps them to break this cycle of violence and trafficking?
Rob, that's a great question. And actually, in answering it, it's more about the whole family unit than it is about that one young girl who was at risk in that moment. And that's because Heart for Lebanon intends to holistically care for mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, all of the siblings, and introduce all of them to Jesus and do a complete mindset shift in their identity in Christ to break that cycle among communities as a whole, among a region as a whole. That's why we say we're in the prevention business, not the rescue business, because in rescuing we're only just taking her out of her environment. And for us, for where we operate, that's more harmful for her. But if we can prevent that from ever happening to her by influencing her dad's understanding or her uncle or her grandfather, whatever male is in charge and guardian is a guardian to her, bringing the gospel into the whole family, offering her specialized Christian counseling in her native tongue, giving her tools like education, offering her a restored childhood through our children at risk programs and sports activities, Bible studies, fun arts and crafts. Those are all avenues that are targeting the young girl who's at risk, the mom who's being discipled for God who is actually influencing her entire family, and any male figure in that family who has influence to stop these bad decisions from ever being made on behalf of the girl.
Heart for Lebanon never wants to isolate one incident. We want to be able to take an entire community and change their trajectory towards Jesus and not away from Jesus. That is so powerful. Well, I want to help our listeners get connected to this incredible work. How do they get involved and make a difference? Well, we're passionate about having other people express their passions and their generosity and just trusting God and what He's going to do with that. And for this instant, each investment of $114 impacts three at-risk girls at Heart for Lebanon.
It also helps prevent them from early marriage, child labor, and violence. Our listeners can do that through several ways. One of the easiest ways right now is by texting the word FAITH to 98656. Or they can visit faithfi.com forward slash lebanon.
Excellent. Our goal, folks, is for the faith and finance family to introduce Jesus to 500 young women and girls. Right now, text FAITH to 98656 or go to faithfi.com slash lebanon. May Lee, thanks for being with us today.
Thank you so much, Rob. That's May Lee Melki from Heart for Lebanon, back with your questions after this. As a faithful listener of the faith and finance program, you know that there is life-changing financial wisdom in God's word to meet all your needs. More than anything, Faithfi is here to help you and millions of others see God as your ultimate treasure. As a nonprofit, we're grateful for our partners that help expand our outreach every month with their generosity. Has God provided financial answers for you through this ministry? Please consider becoming a monthly partner by visiting faithfi.com and clicking Give. As the leading advocate for the Christian financial industry, Kingdom Advisors serves the public by promoting the integration of a biblical worldview across every aspect of the financial services industry. And we serve a growing network of thousands of Christian financial professionals, equipping and empowering them to carry biblical financial wisdom to their clients, peers, and community. For more information, visit kingdomadvisors.com.
That's kingdomadvisors.com. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance, taking your calls and questions. Lines are open, 800-525-7000. I've got three open right now. Go ahead and give us a call.
Let's go down to Texas. Hi, Kathy. Go right ahead. Hi, Rob. How are you? I'm doing great. Thanks. Good.
Hey, I'll just have a quick question. My husband and I are looking to buy a tractor. We have about 15 acres and we really could use a tractor to help us manage the property. We have a high yield savings account. And what I was thinking about is taking the interest that we've earned, just the interest that we've earned on that high yield savings to purchase the tractor.
And it would be a used tractor, not a brand new one. What do you think about that? Yeah. I mean, I think certainly, I mean, I assume the interest is just being credited to the account and it's just building up inside that high yield savings. You're right.
Yeah. So, I mean, whether or not you kind of specifically tie it to the interest that was paid or you pull it out, I think the bigger question is just what assets do you have at your disposal and is this a wise purchase? It sounds like, you know, you all have thought through this, you know, you're in need of a tractor, you have the 15 acres. I think the question is just, you know, are you going to deplete too much of this such that it would push you down below, you know, what we would typically recommend of three to six months of income or excuse me, expenses, three to six months expenses. But as long as you've got plenty of liquidity, I think whether or not it's tied directly to what you've been paid in interest or you come a little bit out of what was originally there as savings, I think that's a great place to pull it. Sounds like you could put it to use. So I'm on board with this. I think it's a great idea, Kathy. We appreciate your call today. Thanks for being on.
To Alabama. Hi, Megan. Go ahead. Hi. Hi. Yes. Thank you.
I have a question. My husband and I started generating income a little bit later than most of our peers. He did a PhD and I've been at home with the kids.
And so once he landed his first job, he was 35. So we have a small savings account, but we don't have any as a 401k and things like that. But I feel like we need to be maximizing investments and we're just not sure like where to start because we've just really got our first home and we you know, some of those things are starting to come together, but we don't know where to go next. Yeah, that's a great question. And listen, a lot of people are resonating with what you're saying.
So don't feel bad about that. I think the key is that you're acknowledging, listen, we're starting a little later than we would have liked to, although we did the things we felt like the Lord was leading us to do and we had some schooling and you know, I've spent time investing in your family. Those are all great things. And you've still got plenty of time if you're willing to live modestly and you know, look below your means to create margin so that you can take advantage of these really key years for compounded growth. What types of retirement accounts are available to him at work now? Does he have one? Is that like a 401k?
Yes, exactly. Yeah, that's what he has. He has a 401k. Okay.
I know his company is matching what he puts in. Yeah. Okay. I don't know beyond that.
Yeah. So I think the key would be for you guys to max that out if you can, you absolutely want to take advantage of the matching at a minimum. I think the goal is probably 10 to 15% of his pay for you all to be putting in there as the employee contribution.
And then they'll match on top of that up to the limits. Remember, you can put in for 2025, you know, as much as $23,500 for this year, so you can put in quite a bit. And then you guys would each be able to have Roth IRAs beyond that. So, you know, for 2025, you could put in $7,000 into a Roth IRA. And even as a stay at home mom as a spouse, you can have a Roth as well. So I mean, that would allow you to put in 14,000 between the two Roths. And then, you know, that's on top of the 23,500 that he can put into the 401k. And then that's not even counting the employee or match.
So that's 37,500 plus the employer match. Now, you may say, Rob, we don't have the ability to do that. And that's fine. You know, we've got to just kind of work with what we have. And you have other priorities like, you know, giving and being able to, you know, accomplish other goals. But the good news is you've got plenty of contribution limit that you can take advantage of as you're able. And so I would say, you know, a good option would be probably to start with maxing out the match at the employer's 401k. And then I might pivot over to two Roth IRAs between the two of you, that 14,000 between the two. And then if you have the ability to do more than the match plus the 14 in the Roths, then maybe come back to the 401k and continue contributing more.
Okay. And what about children's accounts? I think their college is pretty much covered from, I mean, my husband's a professor, so we're just planning for them to go to college, you know, where he is teaching. So we're not really focusing so much on like an education savings plan.
We, you know, the board willing, he still has that position where kind of banking on that, I guess. Would you say, okay, then go ahead and open up a Roth IRA in their name, something to set aside for them just to grow? Like, is it silly to take just the small amount of money and put it in a Roth IRA for your kids just in case? Or do you need to have like a substantial amount of money? Because I'd say our income is pretty moderate.
We're right at around 100k a year. So it's not like we have a ton of extra to be cutting in several accounts. Yeah, it's a great question, Megan.
I probably would not. I mean, first of all, in order to have Roth IRAs for them, they'd have to have earned income. And I suspect they're still young, right? Right. Yes, they are very young.
Yeah. So they couldn't even have Roth IRAs. And because college is likely covered, I think just given what you're saying about a modest income and playing a little bit of catch up, which again, you're not in bad shape, you just need to get started. I would prioritize your long term retirement savings before saving for the kids. There's other ways to cover the cost of college, even if it's not fully covered through your husband's employment.
But there's not other ways to pay for retirement. So I would really prioritize your long term savings and giving and other goals before the kids at this point. Thank you. I appreciate that.
You're welcome. Hey, I want to send you a book. It's Ron Blue's classic Master Your Money. I think it'll be an encouragement to you and your husband as you just kind of understand some of the fundamentals of biblical money management.
So stay on the line, Megan, we'll get your information and we'll put Master Your Money in the mail to you. Thanks for being on the program today. Well, folks, we're getting near the end of the program today. You know, our role as stewards has significant implications. You see, we have responsibilities, not rights. We're to manage God's resources according to his will, not our own desires. And so that means making decisions based on what pleases God and what aligns with his words, with his word. We're accountable.
We're going to stand before the judgment seat and give an account. We're to live with an eternal perspective. We should be faithful in the small things. We want to hold God's money loosely and give generously.
And, you know, that's one of the keys to I think our role as a steward is to live that generous life with an open hand posture, ready to receive and know that's a blessing from the Lord, but ready to give it away as well. I hope this program will encourage you in that each day. Listen, I couldn't do this without my team today. My producer, Devin Patrick, on our phones today, Sandy Dickinson doing an amazing job, and Mr. Taylor Stanriss providing great research and support today. Folks, I hope you'll come back and join us tomorrow. It's been a pleasure to be along with you today. May the Lord bless you, and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.
